Sarkocchio nailed in another lie, this time nuclear

The French President who tried to sell a nuclear reactor to BFF Moammar Gaddafi a few months before he decided to kill him instead, has a thing for nuclear power — so much so that it’s become an issue in his tough reelection fight against François Hollande.

Seems that in his nuclear zeal Nicolas Sarkozy went so far as to claim he’d paid a personal visit to the stricken Japanese nuclear complex at Fukushima.

Only one thing was wrong with his macho bravura. He was lying; Sarko never visited the reactor complex. Naturally, Hoillande nailed him for it.

The BBC, always polite, called it a gaffe.

From their story:

France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy has conceded he did not visit Fukushima on a visit to Japan after last year’s tsunami, despite saying he had.

Election rival Francois Hollande had queried Mr Sarkozy’s claim that he had been to the stricken nuclear plant.

Mr Sarkozy admitted on Friday that he had not. “I’m not an engineer, I don’t need to stick my nose in the situation at Fukushima,” he said on I-tele.

The future of France’s nuclear power industry has become an election issue.

The Socialists have pledged to reduce France’s dependence on nuclear energy for its electricity, from 75% to 50% by 2025.

Mr Sarkozy’s centre-right UMP government argues that the nuclear industry is good for the country economically, generating employment and exports along with clean, reliable electricity.

It was that line about the nose that got us to musing about the famous Italian fairy tale. We he like Geppetto’s famous puppet, the presidential proboscis would grow more prodigiously protruberant. There’s only one problem with that. Would anyone even notice?